Hygia
Elite
Disc Brake System

Product Description

The calipers and levers made by Aluminum alloy with forging process.Stronger than die casting manufactures of other brands.The weight is only 337g (Please refer to "Our Proudcts\Weight Comparsion Sheet").Finished with polishing and anodizing, to avoid the corrosion of brake fluid and reduce surface’s abrasion.

HYGIA considered the convenience of setting by yourself. You don’t have to take many tools, the humanized installing design, just need a 5mm Allen key & a Torx T25 screwdriver, you can finish the setting of all HYGIA hydraulic disc brakes.

The concealed fluid reservoir made the lever’s style more fashion and interchange for right side and left side. It’s easy to filling and bleeding for one screws design at the reservoir.

breaks are faaar better than the juicys. No vibration when breaking heavy, virtually no sound at all. The power is more than I need for cross-country, though maybe not enough for serious downhillers. The style is great. I like that they are under-appreciated breaks, which keeps the price down. Great bang for buck with the carbon levers, dual ceramic pistons and braided hoses.

I wanted to give a full, unbiased review of these brakes so pull up a seat. I ordered the Elite's in red off Ebay and amazingly received the brakes in 1 week from Taiwan. On initial inspection the brakes looked amazing! Calipers look just like XTR and pads are identical. Levers look like a elixir/magura hybrid. Please note though that the anodized red color has a little pink and is not a pure red, but still looks great! The seller made a slight "error" by sending me a 180mm rotor instead of 2 160mm rotors. This was a bonus, but the downside was that the proper mount was not sent for the 180mm rotor so I ventured out to 2 LBS to find the needed adapter (just an FYI- the Magura QM-6 post adapter is spot on). Brakes installed fairly easily and quickly with the proper adapter (much easier than setting up avid brakes). Just grab the brake and tighten the caliper bolts. Be sure to observe the caliper when tightening because they were moving out of position. I had to hold the caliper steady then tighten the caliper bolts.

After setup I did some street test runs and the brakes felt amazing. Levers snap back very fast which helps the modulation. Super strong brakes! The levers are longer than my old Juicy 3's so the shifters needed to be slid in to fit for the longer levers but the feel of the levers is great!

The following day I noticed my rotor had brake fluid on it from a leaky caliper on the front. I had to take off the rotor and caliper to inspect the problem. The fixture attaching the brake hose to the caliper was not tight enough causing the leak. After tightening the nut, washing the rotor and brake pads with soap and water then reinstalling, the brakes are now perfect! (luckily, I did not need to bleed the brakes after this as they still had just as much bite as before). Just be sure to check the hose fittings to ensure they are tight before installing.

On the trail these brakes really perform. They stop WAY better than my Juicy's did and even better than Elixir's I have tried on friends bikes. The adjustments cannot be done on the fly, but with a small tool the lever reach and contact point can be adjusted very easily (another slight detriment is that they use a torx tool instead of allen wrenches). Once they are set they don't need to be adjusted though. The amount of modulation is amazing! I have way more control over rocky, techy stuff.

The bottom line is once these brakes "brake-in" (pun intended) they are fantastic! Be sure to have the seller at least include the post mount rotor adapter if you plan on using the 180mm/203mm rotor as finding the mount may be difficult and also be sure to check the assembly work to save some headaches later. They look great (even though red color does not match all other anodized red on my setup) and stop better! I am rating perfect on value because for the money they cannot be beat and 4 on overall rating because of the lack of proper adapters and poor initial assembly. If these didn't leak initially though they would also get a perfect on overall rating.

Strengths: Good Modulation and Stopping Power, very nice look, pads are XT compatible, bleeding is very easy.

Weaknesses: None so far, will see as time passes. May be the DOT4 deposit in lever body is not too big for long descents. But these brakes are intended for XC or light AM.

Bottom Line:

The Turkey Warble of my old Juicy 7 was driving me crazy, so I decided to sell them and I bought a set of Hygia Red Elite. At first sight, the Red Elites have a fantastic look, and match my black bike very nicely. The building quality is very good, calipers and Lever body are made from a solid piece of Aluminum CNC machined and then anodized, craftmanship is superb.

Regarding the Service, I had a minor issue and had to contact Trailgrit and Hygia in Taiwan and both responded quickly and sent some parts for free to solve my issue.

Functionally, they work really well and in total silence, good modulation, stopping power. I would recommend them for XC and light AM, but probably not for full AM.

I bought the Elite's with the stainless hose upgrade. Best bang for the buck brakes that I have ever seen, heard of or used. Work so much better than the Hayes on my other bike or the Avid's that they replaced. I think I will get another set of the Elite's before people realize how good these are and the prices go up.

Submitted by
DeeEight
a Cross Country Rider
from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Date Reviewed: June 2, 2009

Strengths: Quick and easy setup, very light weight for the money (291g front/316g rear for lever/caliper/hose/IS mount brackets, 46g for other mounting bolts, 207g for the 6-bolt rotors), split-perch clamps and the levers are reversible for those who run their brakes moto-style. Good choice of annodized colours (red, gold, grey) and use shimano xtr/xt compatible pads. Good stopping power and modulation, didn't drag noticeably at all once broken in, and the lever shape is fine.

Weaknesses: I got OEM packaged brakes so they didn't include instructions and the hoses were a tad short but acceptable for the bike they went on. The manufacturer's website does however have the instructions on it at least. Otherwise no complaints thus far.

Bottom Line:

For the dollar, these are hard to beat for the performance and quality they offer. Oh sure, not a "name" brand product but given some major brand name brakes I've seen fail to live up to the hype, I'll take these any day.

Strengths: Price I paid about £80 for full set up. The look trick, anodising is really tough. Weight is minimal, levels are great minimal movement, feel really positive, front lever moves same as rear despite longer cable? strange but good. Shimano based so parts cheap and reliable. Well finished. Twin pistons and silent braking

Weaknesses: the front brake and rear brake are round the wrong way, so you need to swap the cables over when you first get em, or you will pull the left lever and go over your bars (not that I did)

Bottom Line:

If you get these get some AVID roundagon 185 rotors, hope mounts and they are the business. I do all sorts of riding and they always stop, don't boil or fade, and work super smooth. Really good powerful brake for cheap. One bit of my bike I dont think about upgrading.

Strengths: Super Light, even lighter with carbon and Ti kit at a smidgen over 270 grams, very powerfull and very compact.

Weaknesses: limited availability,

Bottom Line:

I bought a new frame wanting to build a resonable 4X rig without going to over board. while perusing through ebay, i came accross these. did a little reading up on them, and on paper sound real impressive, although in saying that, so does most brake systems. but from 10 years within the trade, these came across as spectacular, does everything it says on the tin. spare parts are available redaly, [mainly shimano fitment], not much movent in the leaver [wich is perfect for my style] and a resonable amount of modulation.

ideal for anything from XC to full on freeride, i would even go as far as to say DH race with 203mm rotors [not included with the kit]

would recomend to anyone looking for a budget but very light weight brake system.

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